The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-05-08
INSTINCTS and HABITS.
THEIR EFFECTS AND IMPULSE
ON MEN AND ANNALS.
How the Instincts OF Childhood Be-
come the Iron Bound Habits
of Old Age.

SScftOner u0Q0Etuc on lnSJlnct,
shows that be has given close study
to this faculty in its various forms
as it appears IN man and beast.
After defining the word for the
purposes of his discussion and show
ing that the faculty is present in all
living beings, he arrives at a con-
elusion different from the older
writers on the subject, who smother
ed everything in a vague wonder at
the clairvoyant and prophetic power
of the animals, so superior to any
thing in man, and at the benefcence
of cd in endowing them with such
a gift. He concludes that every in
stinct is an impulse, and that man
has a greater variety OF impulses
than any lower animal, and any one
Of these impulses is as blind" as the
lowest instinct can be; but owing to
mans memory, power of reflection
and power of inference, they come
each one to be felt by him in con-
nection with foresight of their re-
suits. 1t is obvious that every in
stinct in an animal with memory
must be accompanied with foresight
as to its end just SO far as that end
may have fallen under the animals
sognizance. Thus it is plaiu that
no matter how we'll endowed an ami
NAL may ORIGINALLY be in the matter
of instincts, his actions will be much
modified if, in addition to impulses,
he have memories, associations and
differences on any considerable scale.
young animals" says the writer,
Immediately after birth, have no
instinct of fear, but show their de-
pendence by allowing themselves to
be freely handled. Later, however,
they grow wild and, if left to them
selves, will not let man approach
them. am told by farmers in the
Adirondack wilderness that it is a
very serious matter if a COW wanders
off and calves in the woods, and is
not found for a week or more. The
calf, by that time, is as wild and al
most as feet as a deer, and hard to
capture without violence, But
calves rarely show any particular
wildness to the men who have been
in contact with them during the first
days of their life, when the instinct
to attach themselves is uppermost,
nor do they dread strangers as they
would if brought up wild"
This leads to the law of transitori-
ness, which is this: That many in
stincts ripen at certain age and
then fade away. A consequence of
this law is that if, during the time of
such an instincts vivacity, objects
adequate to arouse it are met with, a
habit of acting ON them is formed,
which remains when the original in
stinct has passed away; but that if no
such objects are met with then no
habit will be formed; and, later on
in life, when the animal meets the
objects he will altogether tail to re-
act, as at the earlier epoch he would
instinctively had done. No doubt
such law ais restricted. Some in
stincts are far less transient than
others-those connected with feeding
and self preservation" may hardly
be transient at all and some, after
fading out for time. recur as strong
as ever, e. g., the instincts Of pairing
and rearing young. The author cites
as an example of the habit Of acting
on instinct Scotch terrier, born on
the floor of a stable and transferred
six weeks later TO carpeted house.
When he was 4 months old he
would make a very elaborate pre-
tense Of burying things, such as
gloves, etc, which he had played
with until he was tired. He scratch
ed the carpet with his fore feet,
dropped the object from his mouth
upon the spot, and then scratched all
around it, with both fore and hind
feet, if l remember correctly, and
finally went away and let it lie. Of
course the act was entirely useless.
l saw him perform it at that age
some four or five times, and never
again in his life. The conditions
were not present to fix habit which
could last when the prompting in
stinct died away. But suppose meat
instead of a glove, earth instead of
carpet, hunger instead of a fresh
supper few hours later, and it is
easy to see how this dog might have
got into habit of burying superhu-
Gus food which might have lasted all
his life.
This popularity is still more no.
ticeable in human beings. If boy
grows up alone at the age of games
and sports, and learns neither to
play ball, nor row, nor sail, nor ride,
nor skate, nor fish, nor shoot, proba-
bly, he will be sedentary to the end
of his days, and, though the best of
opportunities be afforded him for
learning these things later, it is a
: hundred to one but he will pass
them by and shrink back from the
effort OF taking those, necessary steps
the prospect of which, at an earlier
age, would have filled him with
eager delight. The sexual passion
expires after a protraoted reign; but
1t is we'll known that its peculiar
manifestations in given individual
depend almost entirely ON the habits
nc udy lOIM uuTluS Ju6 carly
period of its activity. Exposure
to bad company then makes him a
loose liver all his days; chastity kept
at first makes the same easy later
on. In all pedagogy the great thing
is to strike the iron while hot, and to
seize the wave of the pupils interest
In each successive subject before its
ebb has come, so that knowledge may
be got and a habit of skill &C
Quired a Roadway or interest, in
short, secured, on which afterward
the individual may float. There is
. happy moment Ter fixing skill in
drawing, for making boys collectors
in natural history, and presently dis
sectors and botanistg; then for ini-
tiating them int the harmonies of
mechanics and the wonders of ply
steal and chemical law. and so on.
In each Of us . saturation
point is sOon reached in all these
things; the impetus Of our purely
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